Sunday, February 20, 2011

Unauthorized Biography Of Julian Assange And WikiLeaks Due Next Month

By Jerry Smith Feb 20 2011
assangewatch.blogspot.com

An unauthorized biography of Julian Assange And WikiLeaks titled 'Julian Assange - WikiLeaks: Warrior for Truth' should be out in March. The book was written by Sophie Radermecker and Valerie Guichaoua, and published by The Cogito Media Group.

Cogito Media Group announced Friday that the book will feature "graphic testimony from the women that Swedish prosecutors plan to use" against Assange in their investigation of possible rape.
Cogito Media Group say the book is a detailed investigation of WikiLeaks and the sexual assault allegations against Assange and that it will uncover "never-before-revealed findings" about the WikiLeaks founder.

Assange is currently at Ellingham Hall in Norfolk,UK under house arrest, waiting for the verdict in his extradition hearing. Assange has not been charged with anything but is wanted for questioning by Swedish police for accusations made against him by Sofia Wilen and Anna Ardin of rape and sexual molestation, which Assange denies.

Last week the book 'Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website', by former WikiLeaks member Daniel Domscheit-Berg had been released.

Domscheit-Berg told reporters in Berlin that his motives for writing the book were to explain the events that led his leaving and said:

“We need to set the record straight before Assange turns into a cult, a pop phenomenon.”

Domscheit-Berg wrote in the book:

“WikiLeaks turned pale computer geeks, whose cleverness otherwise would not have been noticed by anybody, into public figures, who put fear into politicians, CEOS and military chiefs around the world.”

Domscheit-Berg recalls telling Assange in their final computer chat:

“A leader communicates and cultivates trust in himself. You are doing the exact opposite. You behave like some kind of emperor or slave trader.”

Domscheit-Berg said in an interview:

“Assange became exactly the kind of person he despised and wanted to fight.”

“It is therefore very important that it is made clear how everything went down and why, in the end, we decided to leave the project — and that is something that Assange has described the wrong way.”

Since leaving WikiLeaks Domscheit-Berg and some of the other defectors have started OpenLeaks, a website they claim will provide secure drop boxes for NGOs, trade unions and other media sites.

Domscheit-Berg has said that OpenLeaks will act as a conduit between the leaker and the media and will not publish anything themselves.

A statement by WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson said that:

"WikiLeaks has been taking legal action against former employee, Daniel Domscheit-Berg who was suspended from the organization in September. The reasons for these actions will gradually become clear, but some are hinted at by extracts from Domscheit-Bergs book."

“In the book Domscheit-Berg confesses to various acts of sabotage against the organization. The former WikiLeaks staffer admits to having damaged the sites primary submission system and stolen material.”

“It should be noted that Domscheit-Berg´s roles within WikiLeaks were limited and started to diminish almost a year ago as his integrity and stability were questioned. He has falsely misrepresented himself in the press as a programmer, computer-scientist, security expert, architect, editor, founder, director and spokesman. He is not a founder or co-founder and nor was there any contact with him during the founding years. He did not even have an email address with the organization until 2008 (we launched in December 2006). He cannot program and wrote not a single program for the organization, at any time.”

"Domschiet-Berg was never an architect for the organization, technically, or in matters of policy. He was a spokesperson for WikiLeaks in Germany at various times, but he was never the spokesman for WikiLeaks, nor was he ever WikiLeaks editor, although he subedited some articles. He was also never a computer scientist, or computer security expert, although he was a computer science student many years ago. His accounts of the crucial times in WikiLeaks history since April last year are therefore based upon limited information or malicious falsifications."